1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to handhole and manhole anti-theft inserts and, more particularly, to a handhole and manhole anti-theft insert capable of securing the contents of a handhole and manhole.
2. Background Art
Handholes as well as manholes have been used for several years to provide workers access to a myriad of underground utilities such as pipes that carry water from a source to a destination and conduit that house wiring and fiber optic cable for the distribution of electricity, cable television, internet access, telephone service and the like. While pipes for water and other liquids have been traditionally buried underground, municipalities have only recently been burying other utilities such as electrical wiring, telephone lines, cable, fiber optic cable and the like underground rather than raised above the ground and secured to utility poles.
Handholes and manholes are strategically placed along the routes of the underground utilities described above to allow workers to gain underground access to the utilities without having to disturb or excavate the earth above or around the utilities. Providing access to utilities through handholes and manholes saves time and expense if access is required for the maintenance, repair or update of the underground utilities. While these handholes or manholes allow workers to easily access the underground utilities, they also provide easy access for those individuals seeking to commit illegal acts. For example, removing commodities such as copper pipe and wire that can be sold for scrap and disrupting utilities by destroying electrical or cable television connections.
Although handhole and manhole covers are often designed and manufactured to be extremely heavy, individuals can, nonetheless, easily remove the covers to gain access to the underground utilities. There are several prior art patents (such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,574 issued to Nolle et al.) that disclose adding a locking mechanism to the handhole or manhole cover to secure and lock the cover to a frame. This locking mechanism only deters would be criminals momentarily. While the cover cannot generally be removed from the frame due to the lock, the frame can be easily removed from the concrete base of the handhole or manhole thereby allowing access to the interior of the handhole or manhole.
Therefore, a need exist for a handhole and manhole anti-theft insert that will prevent the unauthorized access of underground utilities through a handhole and manhole even after the cover and frame have been removed from the concrete base of the handhole and manhole.